Roscioli is a family run restaurant/deli that is on a lot of food lists online and is apparently a bit popular with the tourists. Which was fine for this tourist. I had made reservations online on their website before my trip and was seated in the bar area near the front. Most of my neighbors were speaking English. The restaurant resembles a deli that has been converted to a restaurant, with shelves of provisions lining the walls.
Started with a free amuse bouche of a tomato sauce emulsified with anchovy and a cube of mozzarella.
Bread (€3)
The bread basket had a very nice selection, including an olive studded rye like bread and a salty crusty thin bread that kind of resembled pizza crust. The Roscioli family also has a bakery and I believe all of the breads come from there.
Mortadella (€13)
House made mortadella with slices of parmigiana and some crackers. I figured that since they are a salumeria I should try some of their salumi. Quite a large portion of delicious thinly sliced mortadella.
Carbonara (€13)
Probably the best carbonara I’ve had. Haven’t had that many carbonara in restaurants though. Very al dente thick pasta in a rich creamy eggy sauce that also had a lot of pepper flavor. Side note: The restaurants I visited in Rome all cooked their pasta a touch more al dente than in most of the Italian places I’ve been in the US. This pasta had a good crunchy bite to it. The guanciale (cured pork cheek) in this dish was terrific. Little crispy fatty porky pops. They were cooked in a way such that the fat part was a little crispy on the outside but exploded with juicy porky fat when you bit into it. The sauce somehow managed to be rich and light at the same time. Really delicious.
House Tiramisu (€11)
I had their tiramisu for dessert. It was quite good - heavy on the zabaglione side. The zabaglione was very rich and eggy.
Cookies
Some free crispy sugar dusted cookies (taralli?) with chocolate sauce for second dessert.
Delicious meal!
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